Mark Hughes could not help himself. The Welshman has spoken previously about how he maintains no bitterness towards Manchester City despite the manner in which he was sacked as their manager four years ago, and stressed the point in the programme for this match by insisting he does not "bear any grudges towards the club". But presented with the opportunity to strike at his one-time employers, Hughes pounced. "Maybe they prioritised the wrong game," he said with a devilish smile when asked to assess the six changes Manuel Pellegrini, the City manager, made to the side that faced Stoke.

It was hard to disagree after a contest in which Manchester City played with a dearth of verve and drive and would have lost had Stoke, who displayed admirable discipline and energy, taken any of the five good chances Jonathan Walters and Kenwyne Jones missed between them. Pellegrini justified his team selection by pointing out that a large section of his already injury-hit squad had travelled thousands of miles during the recent international break (13 players covering just over 67,000 miles) and with a busy schedule of fixtures to come (six matches in 19 days), beginning with Tuesday's Champions League visit to Viktoria Plzen, he had little choice but to refresh his starting lineup. As Hughes suggested, however, that tactic almost cost City here.

"It is difficult to rest players in the Premier League because it is an unforgiving place and if you prioritise one [match] over the others you can slip up," said the Stoke manager. "I was encouraged by the team they picked against us, to be honest, and I think that was borne out in the performance of the two teams. That's a balance act Manuel Pellegrini will have to cope with. It is not easy but he has got great riches there in terms of talent and so it is about getting the balance right."

In fairness to the Chilean, the team he put out against Stoke could hardly be described as a bunch of no-hopers, containing as it did Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, Yaya Touré, Alvaro Negredo and, making his first appearance for the club since a £22m summer move from Fiorentina, Stevan Jovetic.

But the visitors were sluggish, with James Milner and Samir Nasri offering little thrust from wide positions, while at centre-back Javier García never looked comfortable alongside Matija Nastasic.

The state of City's defence must be a concern for Pellegrini before Tuesday's fixture and Sunday's first Manchester derby of the season. Vincent Kompany, Gaël Clichy and Micah Richards are all injured – although Pellegrini suggested Kompany could return for the trip to the Czech Republic – while Joleon Lescott was left out here because of hamstring pain. One of the summer arrivals, Martín Demichelis, is also absent for six weeks because of a knee injury. Thankfully for Pellegrini, Hart appeared close to his best here, making two match-saving stops and preventing City from suffering a second successive away defeat after the 3-2 humbling at Cardiff City last month.

"I always want to play perfect and win every match but we have played four games in the Premier League and in three of those we have kept a clean sheet and we have scored eight goals, the most of any side [alongside Arsenal]," said Pellegrini, justifying his side's less than emphatic start to the campaign. "Of course, we have to keep improving and I am sure we will."

For Stoke, the obvious area for improvement is their finishing. They would have earned a point against Liverpool on the opening day of the season had Walters been able to score a late penalty and here he was guilty of missing with a free header from close range after 14 minutes. Jones missed in similar style in the second half having seen a close-range shot before the interval saved by Hart after stealing possession from Nasri and finding himself with a clear run on goal. The pair also fluffed another chance apiece.

For all his frustrations, Hughes can still reflect on a decent start to his reign at Stoke, with this their fourth straight game in all competitions without defeat.

"It is a long old season and we know how hard it can be," he said. "But if we continue in the same vein we will be fine."